Chapter 14: (August 30)
"Kala," came a voice, echoing off the sides of the Houses.
Kala turned to the source. Glancing back at the fountain, she noticed Wolfgang walking towards her. He was once again in a dark jacket, but this time the hoodie didn't cover his hair.
"Are you alright?" She frowned, watching his exhausted face. "You don't seem to be getting enough sleep."
"No, I'm fine. But why didn't you tell me about the cards? I know you got one yesterday."
Kala sighed, continuing her walk towards the Schoolhouse. He followed her carefully, waiting for an answer.
"It's not to worry. It must be a joke of some kind."
"It can't be."
They stopped walking, this time on the lawn of the building. Turning to watch him again, Kala noticed that his cheeks were subtly pink, although she wasn't sure if it was from talking to her or from the icy wind.
He continued, trying to explain further. "Look, getting what you did, it has to mean something, doesn't it?"
"I thought you didn't believe in God," she countered, smiling.
"I don't care either way. If there is a God, he doesn't do shit. But I do believe in miracles, Kala. Like our connection? You can't say that's not a miracle."
"I think we've felt, and spoken about this enough to know, but I just want to stay like this. Not anything else. As much as I wish, I'm just very..."
Wolfgang set his jaw, his eyes blazing. "Rajan?"
Kala hesitated, knowing that she couldn't lie to him. "He's nice, Wolfgang. And you know what Irsa said."
"It's okay. You don't need to explain. I think I understand now." He turned away from her, hunching his shoulders as he walked into the strong wind. Watching him go, she felt both anger and sadness boiling up inside her.
Kala's phone rang suddenly as she turned to the School's door. She unlocked the call and held it to her ear, pacing outside the entrance hall.
"Are you in?" came Nomi's voice.
"I'm not quite inside yet. What do I do once I'm in his office?"
"Get in there quick, take the flash drive I gave you, and then place it in his computer's USB port."
"But how will I know his password? And what if there are cameras?" Kala's pacing became faster as the she realized just how terrified she was of breaking into the Headmaster's office.
"Relax, we went over this yesterday. The flash drive will decrypt the password and allow you access to his files. Just let the drive do its work. And there's no way there are any cameras in that part of the building. He's old school." She paused over the line and Kala paused as well. "No pun intended."
"Okay, I'm going inside."
Turning off the phone, Kala slowly entered the building. She'd already memorized the layout of the Schoolhouse, although it was too large to know where every class was.
Left hall after entrance, straight down, another left, door. Following the steps in her mind, she found the room number. She tried the door handle, only to find that it was locked. "Of course it is," she murmured under her breath.
"Do you need something?" a deep voice asked from across the hall.
Kala looked back at the elderly man, her blood running cold. He was leaving the lecture room from one of the side doors, and was staring at her, puzzled.
"Oh. No, no I was just looking for some help." Kala's mind raced as she tried to find an excuse. Backing away from the door and towards the man - he was most likely a teacher - she tapped into Lito's skill and changed her expression to one of horror. "There was this dog outside of my House's fence, a large dog, with really pointy teeth. I just came to tell the Headmaster."
The man squinted and shook his head slowly, "Under those circumstances, you go directly to a Prefect. They are the ones in charge of the household. Now, you should probably return. Students are not allowed to be wandering the School halls during the weekend." He watched her carefully as she left; his bushy eyebrows making him resemble a rather old owl.
Turning the corner back into the Entrance hall, Kala took out her phone and sent a quick text to Nomi.
Couldn't do it.
Teacher watching.
Need more time.
/
Nomi locked the phone and set it aside. Receiving Kala's text had been disappointing, but there was always another, better time to acquire the information she was looking for. One small press of the enter key and they would all find out what the Headmaster knew. Of course, the teachers' emails had linked them to the clue that Alvira had disappeared completely. But the question remained: what were they doing to find her?
"Hey, Nom', what you thinking about?" Amanita leaned over the side of her bunk bed and tapped Nomi's forehead with her index finger. The girl had somehow managed to wrap her rainbow colored headphone's plug around her foot. She was reading a book, the front of which was indiscernible from where Nomi was sitting.
"Nothing much. But I have to ask you something, and you have to keep it between me and you, alright?"
"Cool, what is it?" She unwrapped herself from the headphones and placed them neatly aside, giving Nomi her full attention.
"My History teacher went missing and she's really close to me, but not really, and Kala and I are trying to find her because she's definitely gone from the country." Pausing to catch her breath, she glanced up at Amanita to assess her response.
"Fan-tastic!" was the reply.
"You're going to have to keep this a secret."
"Um, totally! I was born to be Nancy. And I'm probably your best shot at catching the killer." Amanita jumped to the floor and looked under her bed, finally finding her leather trunk. She took out a flashlight and lit up her face creepily, her smile made all the more ominous by the light.
"We're not looking for a killer…" Nomi grabbed the flashlight away from her, ignoring Amanita's sarcastic eye roll.
"First, we should have code names, you know? You can be WallWhacker… huh, I like that, I should trademark it."
"Wall what? You're not high again, are you?"
Amanita, however, was just getting started. She jumped around the room, pretending to talk on a walkie-talkie, and holding her hands up like she was aiming a gun.
Nomi stood and calmed her friend, taking her elbow and sitting her on the floor. "Look," she started, "Kala just texted me, and she couldn't find a way into Matheson's office to export some files from his computer. I don't know what, but we need a distraction."
"Well, you could go the old-school Fire Alarm method. There's the heart attack method too. Or, you know, just break into his office and run for it when the security guards come."
"And risk getting kicked out of the Board? I don't think that's such a good idea. No, we need something else."
Amanita thought for a moment, and then looked up in excitement. "This also might get me kicked out of the Board, but it'll definitely get you your info. How badly do you want to help this teacher?"
Nomi thought back to the day she'd been 'reborn.' The pain had been difficult, but it would have been worse for Alvira. And in the end, she'd found herself connected to seven other friends.
"Amanita… I really want this information."
A/N: Amanita is so fun to write about, and she'll be pretty important in the coming chapters. Next chapter coming on August 3. I'm changing the update time to every four days, but I'll be writing lengthier chapters. I'll keep you posted on the times in case they change in the future, although they probably won't. I hope everyone is having an awesome summer (or winter, depending on where you live)!
~C.o.D.